Israel rebuffs Blinken's call for Gaza humanitarian pause

Israel has rebuffed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's call for a "humanitarian pause" in Gaza.

Mr Blinken said he had discussed the idea with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials during their talks in Tel Aviv.

In a TV statement minutes later, Mr Netanyahu said Israel rejected "a temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of our hostages".

He said that Israel was "continuing with all our force" against Hamas.

The US diplomatic push came as Israel pressed its offensive against Hamas, with commanders saying that their forces had encircled Gaza City and were engaged in a "complex urban fight".

Israel's offensive - involving air strikes and ground forces - was launched in the aftermath of the attack on 7 September during which Hamas fighters killed 1,400 people in Israel and and took more than 240 hostages.

Israel's revenge attacks have killed at least 9,200 people in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Mr Blinken said that the US believed efforts to protect Palestinian civilians and increase aid into Gaza "would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses".

"A number of legitimate questions were raised in our discussions today including how to use any period of pause to maximize the flow of humanitarian assistance, how to connect the pause to the release of hostages, how to ensure that Hamas doesn't use these pauses or arrangements to its own advantage," Mr Blinken told a news conference in Tel Aviv.

"These are issues that we need to tackle urgently, and we believe they can be solved."

In his TV address, Mr Netanyahu said: "Israel is refusing a temporary truce that doesn't include the release of our hostages."

Mr Blinken, on his second trip to the region in a month, said the US had provided Israel advice on how to minimise civilian deaths while still trying to "finish" Hamas.

And he said he had discussed tangible steps on allowing more aid, including fuel, to reach Gaza.

The US secretary of state also said that Israel would only gain security through the creation of a Palestinian state.

Reiterating longstanding US policy on a two-state solution, he said: "Two states for two peoples. Again, that is the only way to ensure lasting security for a Jewish and democratic Israel."

In comments made beside the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Mr Blinken said the US stood "strongly with Israel it has the right and obligation to defend itself and to ensure the events of 7 October never happen again."

Mr Herzog said Israel was going to great lengths to Gazans of airstrikes, as he held up a pamphlet that he said was being dropped in the Strip telling civilians to leave the war-torn north.

As the two men spoke, protesters could be heard shouting on a loudspeaker from a nearby street - families of Israelis who had been taken hostage.

Mr Herzog said that his "heart goes out to them", while Mr Blinken added that the US was thinking "every single moment of our hostages".

"So many, both Israelis, Americans, other nationals - and we're determined to do everything we can to bring them back safely to be with their families and loved ones," he added.